Having some issues with my Premiere XL that I have not experienced before in the 2 years I have owned it.

I got home tonight and found it was rebooting but was stuck at the "Almost there......" screen. I unplugged it and waited a few minutes and plugged it back in. It tried to reboot again but kept looping through the reboot sequence (Almost there, Welcome, Starting up, etc.). I let it stay there for at least 20 minutes. I unplugged it again, let it sit for a minute and then plugged it in again but disconnected the ethernet and bluetooth remote dongles this time. Plugged it back in and it started the boot sequence and got to the THX screen with the THX sound bit and it briefly showed a channel but then it stuttered and went right back to the looping boot sequence again. I unplugged it again and let it sit for 5 minutes and plugged it back in again. It again got to the THX screen but played the THX sequence OK but then it immediately started the reboot sequence. Normally, when I get to the THX screen, the next screen is that goofy animated Tivo character that dances. Not seeing that at all - not getting that far in the boot sequence.

So far, dead in the water. No TV or anything.

I'll call Tivo tomorrow but was hoping someone could offer some suggestions tonight to save me that aggravation.

Yeah, or some sector of the hard drive is corrupted. Not sure if Tivo can rectify remotely - hoping I don't have to ship it back to them for repair. I did get the extended warranty but don't want to do without it for a week.

What a POS this thing is..........Nothing but problems since day 1. It was just a matter of time that something serious happened to it. I wouldn't be surprised if someone started a class-action lawsuit at some point. They came out with the new 4 tuner and haven't even fixed the software yet for the existing models.

Well, got up this morning and tried it again - same thing. Just cycled through the boot over and over.

Called Tivo and they agreed the hard drive is probably bad. Got an exchange unit coming.

One thing I didn't realize was that my 3 year extended warranty only covers 1 replacement unit - so, in effect my warranty is used up by this one having to be exchanged. I will get a year with the replacement from Tivo and I can buy another 2 or 3 years extended for the new unit.

Well, I guess $40 for a replacement isn't too bad a price to pay but jeez, what an income stream they are getting for this piece of crap.

Wife wants to think about getting another one as a backup but I am not sure I want to buy another piece of junk and reward Tivo for all the aggravation we have had to deal with since April of 2010 with the Premiere. May have to look around for a deal on a plain jane Premiere to keep the wife happy.

Well, got up this morning and tried it again - same thing. Just cycled through the boot over and over.

Called Tivo and they agreed the hard drive is probably bad. Got an exchange unit coming.

One thing I didn't realize was that my 3 year extended warranty only covers 1 replacement unit - so, in effect my warranty is used up by this one having to be exchanged. I will get a year with the replacement from Tivo and I can buy another 2 or 3 years extended for the new unit.

Well, I guess $40 for a replacement isn't too bad a price to pay but jeez, what an income stream they are getting for this piece of crap.

Wife wants to think about getting another one as a backup but I am not sure I want to buy another piece of junk and reward Tivo for all the aggravation we have had to deal with since April of 2010 with the Premiere. May have to look around for a deal on a plain jane Premiere to keep the wife happy.

Arghhhh!

Really? You do understand that TiVo doesn't make the hard drive and that they are using Western Digital drives designed for DVR type usage? How exactly do you expect TiVo to stop hard drive failures? Have you done all that you can your self (well ventilated location, good surge protection, & even better a UPS)? There are few things that I can be 100% sure about - but the fact that all hard drives will fail if you use them is one. Yes 2 years is shorter than typical life for a hard drive but not that unusual.

Well, got up this morning and tried it again - same thing. Just cycled through the boot over and over.

Called Tivo and they agreed the hard drive is probably bad. Got an exchange unit coming.

One thing I didn't realize was that my 3 year extended warranty only covers 1 replacement unit - so, in effect my warranty is used up by this one having to be exchanged. I will get a year with the replacement from Tivo and I can buy another 2 or 3 years extended for the new unit.

Well, I guess $40 for a replacement isn't too bad a price to pay but jeez, what an income stream they are getting for this piece of crap.

Wife wants to think about getting another one as a backup but I am not sure I want to buy another piece of junk and reward Tivo for all the aggravation we have had to deal with since April of 2010 with the Premiere. May have to look around for a deal on a plain jane Premiere to keep the wife happy.

Arghhhh!

it's the same with the extended warranty at BestBuy. if the Box is replaced, the warranty is gone. Just like TiVo. Although with BestBuy, if they repair the TiVo then the warranty will still be in force. But TiVo always sends out another box. Repairing the defective box later and selling it as refurbished.

Did you have your XL connected to a UPS so it wouldn't be exposed to brown outs and power surges? I have never powered up a TiVo without it being connected to a UPS.

it's the same with the extended warranty at BestBuy. if the Box is replaced, the warranty is gone. Just like TiVo. Although with BestBuy, if they repair the TiVo then the warranty will still be in force. But TiVo always sends out another box. Repairing the defective box later and selling it as refurbished.

Did you have your XL connected to a UPS so it wouldn't be exposed to brown outs and power surges? I have never powered up a TiVo without it being connected to a UPS.

Yeah, using a pretty heavy duty Furmann surge supressor and I have been using a UPS almost since day 1 primarily because of the long time it takes to boot up. Don't get many brown outs or power issues here anyway, but the Furmann I bought to protect my home theater gear and run the Tivo through it as well just for insurance.

If I hadn't had to deal with all the software bugs since April 2010 I probably would be a little more forgiving but when you take all the software issues (a lot still not fixed) and now the mechanical failure, it doesn't leave me and my family with a good feeling about Tivo products. This is my opinion as a consumer - the product just wasn't ready for consumer primetime (and still isn't) in many respects. However, the product shouldn't be that particular and finicky - it is after all a consumer product like a TV or radio and it shouldn't come with a myriad of caveats in order to work. Just my opinion.